Unearthing The Metal Underground: The Scottish Metal Scene

Every week in Unearthing the Metal Underground, we take a look at three quality bands that haven't gotten as much exposure yet as they should. This week, we will be taking a look at three heavy metal bands from Scotland, since it seemed criminal that we hadn't already. There is currently a tourism commercial airing for the country which opens with the line, "Scotland may surprise you," which is certainly evident in its metal scene, containing everything from traditional thrash metal to pagan black metal, and everything in between.

Cerebral Bore

Another band formed in 2006 is Cerebral Bore, who hail from Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow, and perform a brutal brand of death metal that lives up to the harder than nails reputation of the city on the River Clyde. They released their first demo, "The Dead Flesh Architect" in 2006 and soon found themselves garnering attention internationally, making their first trip abroad in August the next year to perform in New York, and have since gone on to perform in many other countries including Russia, India and Israel, as well as supporting some legendary names in extreme metal such as Brutal Truth and Suffocation. In 2010, they signed to Earache Records and released their full length debut, "Maniacal Miscreation," the next year. While touring for the album, the band made headlines when guitarist Paul McGuire and bassist Kyle Rutherford were falsely arrested and jailed in New York on suspicion of murder. The two were released a week later without charge and flown back to Scotland. The band recently released a single entitled, "Horrendous Acts of Iniquity," as well as completing the Summer Slaughter tour which also featured the likes of Cannibal Corpse and Exhumed and will be kicking off a European tour this Friday (September 14th) in Lindau, Germany and last until October 14th.

Cerebral Bore - "The Bald Cadaver"

Cerebral Bore - "Horrendous Acts of Iniquity"

Askival

Askival is a one man pagan black metal band comprising of a man named, Andy Marshall, who uses the alias, Tuagh when recording Askival material. The name comes from the highest mountain on the island of Rùm, its name meaning, "Ash Tree Mountain" in Norse. He formed the project in 2006 and released a demo the next year entitled, "Alba," which received positive feedback from the majority of those who heard it. He followed, "Alba" with a full length record entitled, “Eternity,” in 2009, which was released through German label, Darker Than Black Records. Later that year, Tuagh announced that he was no longer interested in recording Askival music, but in the spring of 2012, he confirmed that he had changed his mind, and is currently working on new material.

Askival - "Whispers in the Breeze"

Askival - "Legion of Wotan"

Black Talon

Finally this week, we move on to the youngest band (in terms of formation at least) on our list, Black Talon. Black Talon are a thrash metal outfit from the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh, taking their influences mostly from the Bay Area school of thrash, along the lines of Forbidden and Death Angel. The group formed in 2010 and released their first, (and to date, only) EP the next year, named, "Inevitable Fatality," which featured three songs, including the title track. The band have recently been recording for their next EP, although no release date has been confirmed as of yet.

Black Talon - "Black Talon"

Black Talon - "Dead Or Insane"

So what did you make of these three different styles of metal from Scotland? Did you like the high screams or prefer to take the low grunts? Whichever road you went down this week, be sure it eventually leads to Scotland, because it's definitely home to some of the most promising and talented bands in the United Kingdom right now, as well as being a fascinating place in general.

Ollie Hynes has been a writer for Metal Underground.com for four years and has been a metal fan for ten years, going so far as to travel abroad for metal shows.